Home › 2025 › September › 18
Daily Archives: September 18, 2025

(AAC) Hope For The Nations: The Opening Of New Wineskins 2025

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Kendall Harmon

As night falls over Ridgecrest on this first full day of New Wineskins 2025, the words of Jesus about new wine and new wineskins resonate with special clarity. From early morning MAP talks to diocesan gatherings, from practical workshops to moments of prayer ministry, the Spirit has been moving in diverse and unexpected ways. Tonight’s plenary session brought these themes into sharper focus, calling us to consider what it means to be vessels for the new wine of God’s kingdom in our own time.

The evening began with testimony and song. Missionaries from across the globe shared stories of challenge and perseverance, of hardship endured and victories won. Their words bore witness to a truth at the heart of mission: that God is faithful, even in places of resistance and suffering. Between these stories, voices rose in worship, music offered not as performance but as prayer, reminding us that mission is born in the presence of God. A mosaic of art and song from around the world followed, filling the hall with a glimpse of Revelation’s vision of every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered before the throne. It was more than a cultural showcase; it was a foretaste of the kingdom to come, and a reminder that mission is not simply about proclamation but also about beauty, creativity, and joy.

Into this atmosphere stepped the Rev. Gabriel Ochoa of Recife, Brazil. Rev. Ochoa is a pastor, church planter, and visionary leader in Brazil’s Anglican movement. His ministry has centered on planting vibrant communities of faith and training leaders to shepherd the next generation. His words tonight were marked by urgency, vulnerability, and hope.

He began with a phrase that struck him deeply: “People love what other people are passionate about.” He asked us a piercing question: When we speak about the next generation, about church planting, how passionate are we? 

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, - Anglican: Latest News, Brazil, Globalization, Missions, Theology

(CT) How Indian Christian Families are Tackling Gen Z Loneliness

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Kendall Harmon

When Gracy David first moved to the city of Jaipur in India’s Rajasthan state for an architecture internship nine years ago, the then-23-year-old was nervous.

It was her first time living away from her family and paying for her own rent and food with her small stipend. She didn’t know many people in the city and, beyond her work, had no plans in the evenings or weekends.

Yet through the Union of Evangelical Students of India (UESI), three Christian families in Jaipur welcomed her into their homes, giving her a “soft landing into adulting,” David recalled. They picked her up to attend church and invited her to Sunday lunches.

Read it all.

Posted in Anthropology, Ethics / Moral Theology, India, Marriage & Family, Pastoral Theology, Religion & Culture, Theology

(NYT) The Newest Face of Long-Term Unemployment? The College Educated.

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Kendall Harmon

Sean Wittmeyer would seem to be highly employable. He has more than a decade of experience in architecture and product design, impressive coding chops and two master’s degrees. His skills make him an asset in two industries, technology and construction, which helped power the economy’s growth over the last 15 years.

But construction activity has faltered since 2023, after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates, and many tech companies began layoffs around the same time.

That helps explain why Mr. Wittmeyer, 37, has been unemployed for a year and a half, since he lost his job in business development for a company that makes software to help with real estate projects. He has been so eager to earn income that he has applied for positions befitting an intern, only to be told he was overqualified. “I can’t even work at the little board game store down the street,” he said.

When the federal government released its August employment numbers on Sept. 5, the overall unemployment rate was still relatively low, at just over 4 percent. But underneath was a concerning statistic: The portion of unemployed people who have been out of work for more than six months, which is considered “long-term,” rose to its highest share in over three years — to nearly 26 percent.

Read it all.

Posted in * Economics, Politics, Economy, Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market, Science & Technology, Young Adults

(Economist) AI is erupting in India

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Kendall Harmon

Sam Altman is bullish about India. The co-founder of OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, says the country’s adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has been “unmatched anywhere in the world”. India is already OpenAI’s second-largest market by number of users and could soon be its biggest. In August OpenAI launched a cheaper version of its chatbot tailored for Indian users. It plans to open an office in New Delhi later this year. Mr Altman is himself due to visit India at the end of this month. According to Bloomberg, a news organisation, he may use the trip to unveil plans to open a mammoth data centre there.

Other tech firms are just as keen. In January Microsoft, which is also an investor in OpenAI, pledged to spend $3bn over the next few years expanding its AI infrastructure in India. In August Google and Meta both announced partnerships with Reliance Industries, the conglomerate run by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, to build data centres and push the use of AI in Indian businesses. In July Perplexity, a startup hoping to dent Google’s dominance in search, made the boldest move: it struck a deal with Bharti Airtel, one of India’s biggest telecoms firms, to provide its AI service (usually $240 a year) free for a year to all 360m Airtel customers. According to Sensor Tower, a market-intelligence firm, downloads of Perplexity in India soared by almost 800% month-on-month after the Airtel tie-up, compared with gains of 39% and 6% for ChatGPT and Gemini….

For Indians, the battle promises cutting-edge AI tools at extremely low cost. For AI firms, the payoff may lie less in revenue than in reach: the chance to lock in hundreds of millions of users, and the torrents of data they create.

Read it all.

Posted in India, Science & Technology

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Edward Bouverie Pusey

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Kendall Harmon

Grant unto us, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know thy presence and obey thy will; that, following the example of thy servant Edward Bouverie Pusey, we may with integrity and courage accomplish what thou givest us to do, and endure what thou givest us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Posted in Church History, Spirituality/Prayer

A prayer to begin the day from Frank Colquhoun

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Kendall Harmon

O Blessed Lord, who by thy word and example hast shown us the meaning of neighbourliness and the way of love: Grant that we may learn to recognize as our neighbour every fellow man who needs our help, and to serve him with a love that is costly and unselfish, like thine own love for us.  We ask this for thy name’s sake.

Posted in Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Bible Readings

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Kendall Harmon

For thou, O Lord, art my hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
 Upon thee I have leaned from my birth;
    thou art he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of thee.

–Psalm 71:5-6

Posted in Theology: Scripture